You may have trouble getting into a private insurance plan but depending on the country (and sometimes depending on the community) you choose and depending on the type of residence/visa you utilize, you may find you have other great options such as getting into the public system or a hospital membership plan. True, most do make the move before the age of 80, and at any age there are a lot of factors to consider, including health, personality type, community ties, finances... but there are some wonderful 80+ success stories! Here's some inspiration:

https://members.internationalliving.com/articles/finding-adventure-in-retirement/

Plus you might enjoy this video of 81-year-old world travelers on the International Living YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/JSpt-xjkxFU?si=cs7RF78dCJ4BgkwE

Best,
IL Overseas Editor Jess Ramesch

I haven't been there but perhaps one of the other ILers will comment.

I'll just add that, while I can't tell you when or if International Living will ever cover Paraguay, I can tell you that the countries covered here generally check the majority of the following boxes:

Home to expat communities Welcoming to foreigners Straightforward access to legal residence Safe for families, retirees, single women Excellent infrastructure (roads, telecommunications, power, water) Politically stable Strong/stable economy Straightfoward access to bank accounts You can move your money in and out with reasonable ease A good range of property available for sale and rent Excellent value (cost of living vs what you get for your money) Easy to travel to/in-country
And more (for a full list of categories see International Living's Annual Global Retirement Index: https://magazine.internationalliving.com/internationalliving/library/item/january_2024/4158110/ )

To sum up there typically needs to be great value and a high enough standard of living to entice expats to go, especially when much longer flights are involved. (For example, even though it takes 8+ hours to fly to Uruguay from the States, we do cover it from time to time because it offers so much. You can read our latest coverage in the June issue of IL magazine https://magazine.internationalliving.com/internationalliving/library/item/may_2024/4189974/ )

Best,

IL Overseas Editor Jess Ramesch

Hello there. Sorry about the technical difficulties.

Let's start with the golden visa issue. The type of programs you are referring to have mainly abandoned real estate as an option. But there are plenty of other visa types that will work for you as well. There's no need for you to start investing little bits into foreign stock markets to get residency abroad.

Of course, if you have money in an IRA, you can convert some of it to a self directed IRA, and to use that to invest in qualifying assets in whatever country you want to live in. As you note, it's quite difficult to get banking and brokerage facilities in a foreign country unless you have a close connection there, or until you've got a residency visa.

If your goal is to retire overseas, then your best bet is to focus on getting a financially independent person's visa, sometimes called a non-lucrative visa. In all countries, this requires that you demonstrate a regular flow of passive income from pension or investments. As long as you have enough coming in, and you have all the other paperwork in order, that allows you to live in the country indefinitely. And it doesn't require that you open up a bank account ahead of time.